My Philippine Hyundai Getz took her furthest trip yet: a four-hour journey to Laiya, Batangas, in search of a resort in which to book dozens of guests for a team-building and training seminar that I’ve been invited to participate in. Here are some of the more stringent notes:

• We left Manila at 11:00AM, encountering terrible traffic somewhere in the vicinity of the Star Superhighway. Boiling heat and bad traffic = overheating Hyundai Getz, right? Nope! Gina stayed on-target and cool the entire way and back. (Mind you, one of the major flaws of the Hyundai Getz, which is the appalling lack of an engine thermostat to tell you whether or not your engine is on the verge of overheating, was glaringly obvious during this time. Yech.)
• The edge of Laiya gives way from smooth paved road to dirt road. I’m not kidding. My Hyundai Getz Philippines handled it with aplomb, taking on the rocky road with finesse. Kudos to her shock absorbers. Plus points, too, for my tires for not giving out. (Will check the brand; tibay din pala ng mokong.)
• So how does Gina perform in terms of fuel efficiency? We replaced the usual standard gasoline (93 octane rating) with a 95 octane rating gasoline from Petron to see if power and fuel efficiency would improve. End result: 11.93 kilometers per liter. Initial conclusion: walang diperensya. Testing is stil ongoing.